Cactus
The Cactus is a halftrack armoured personnel carrier assigned to Squad E in ''Valkyria Chronicles 4''. Profile The APC driven by Dan Bentley. During EWII, these truck-like APCs were mainly used by Edinburgh and Valios. With wheels in front and treads in the back, they often joined tanks for utility roles like towing, transport, and scouting. In some cases, they functioned as mobile command centers. At the time, armored vehicles were known for the steep learning curve required to master their lever-based driving system. These half-trucks were equipped with steering wheels for intuitive driving, making them highly valued assets in the military. Description Cactus is a lightly armoured, fast vehicle designed primarily to transport troops: while it has a machine gun to defend itself or provide supporting fire, it is hardly a frontline combat vehicle. Gameplay Cactus is first made available to the player in Chapter 4, mission 4a "Breaking the Line 1," after which it can be deployed in Skirmishes on the added second tank starting slot. When Glory becomes available later in the game, the player must choose between it and Cactus, as the Hafen usually occupies a fixed slot. Cactus presents the player with a great many new tactical options vital to getting top mission ranks in Valkyria Chronicles 4's larger maps. It is able to transport soldiers large distances without having to select them or expend their AP, and regardless of their class. It is fairly fast and has the highest AP of any player-controllable vehicle, with optional parts that allow this to be increased further still. On its own, Cactus is protected from smallarms fire but fairly flimsy, and its upgrades only do a minimal amount to mitigate this: indeed, if Dan's Def-reducing Personal Potential "Shut-In" is allowed to trigger (chance of triggering by driving the Cactus within grenade-throwing range of a base flag), it is entirely possible for Interception fire from other vehicles and fixed machine guns to cause serious damage.to it. Anti-vehicle interception fire from enemies such as AT guns or the Vulcan will destroy the Cactus in short order The main weapon is a short-ranged and rather puny machine gun with a huge spread, though since it fires 20 times, the Order "Demolition Boost" will allow the Cactus to kill most enemy tanks if it can get in a position where it can target their radiator. Cactus only has body and radiator hit locations: the running gear is not a separate hit location. While this does mean that mines cannot compromise the vehicle's top speed, it has the downside that they instead apply all of their damage to the APC's body. The real advantage of the vehicle is the ability to transport infantry: by default it can carry two soldiers, with upgrades able to increase this to a maximum of five. There are three ways for a soldier to board Cactus: * If their current location is close enough to it, they can be ordered to enter the Cactus while still in Command Mode. To do this, open the special actions menu (highlight the soldier and press triangle (PS) or Y (Xbox) button) and select "board." This consumes no Command Points. * While in the Cactus' movement phase, approach a soldier. When close enough, a context prompt will appear: press the button to pick up that soldier. This consumes no Command Points, and the Cactus can continue its movement phase as normal: the only penalty is that the Cactus has to stop moving briefly as it makes the pickup. * While in the soldier's own movement phase, move close to the Cactus and use the "board" context prompt. This will immediately end that character's movement phase. While in the Cactus, soldiers cannot be re-armed by an Engineer or given Orders, though they do still appear to receive boosts from "All Units..." Orders.. Troops can only exit the Cactus in Command Mode: to do this, the player must pull up Cactus' own special command menu and select "deploy," which will bring up a list of soldiers on board. Selecting a soldier to deploy will expend one Command Point and immediately start a movement phase for that soldier: therefore, it is important to give a soldier any Orders before they board it, or it will be necessary to waste a CP and some of their Action Points.. Soldiers in the Cactus are immune to anything short of the vehicle's destruction: if this does occur, they are "forced to retreat" rather than killed, as if they were Leaders. Dan himself is treated the same way. If the Cactus is bought back onto the field after being destroyed by using the Ship Order "Emergency Fix," troops who were inside it when it was destroyed will not be returned. Trivia * Cactus is loosely based on a German Sd. Kfz. 231-family 8-wheeled armoured car, with the rear tracks replacing six of the wheels. * It can turn on the spot like any other player-controlled tank, something a half-track should not be able to do. Category:Squad E Category:Tanks Category:Vehicles Category:Edinburgh Army Category:Atlantic Federation Category:Valkyria Chronicles 4